Coupler support



April 28, 1959 E. H. BLATTNER COUPLER SUPPORT 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Inveni'or:

FIG. 5

Filed March 18, 1955 Emil H Blattner FIG 4- m m 3 \IIIIIII J FIG 1 his Attorney FIG. 3

April 28, 1959 E. H. BLATTNER COUPLER SUPPORT Filed March 18, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Q o 0 0 0 "j v Inventor: Emil H. Blattner By M 'hts Attorney United States Patent Ofiice 2,884,143 Patented Apr. 28, 1959 COUPLER SUPPORT Emil H. Blattner, Williamsville, N.Y., assignor to The Symington-Gould Corporation, Depew, N.Y., a corporation of Maryland Application March 18, 1955, Serial No. 495,272

6 Claims. (Cl. 213-61) This invention relates to a coupler support for supportingthe shank of a railway car coupler and particularly to a coupler support in the form of a combined striking casting and coupler carrier.

As pointed out in Couch application, Serial No. 487,803, filedFebruary 14, 1955, the probable ultimate supplanting for freight car use of the A.A.R. Standard E Coupler by the Alternate Standard F Coupler has confronted railroads desiring presently to economize by installing E couplers with a potential excessive expense because of the inability of the coupler support for either type of coupler to function effectively as a support for the other. That application is directed to a coupler support adapted by an invertible carrier member to function with either type of coupler. In the instant application, the structure of the conventional coupler support for the F coupler in the main is retained and made adaptable by minor modification to serve as the necessary rigid support for the E coupler, the modification in nowise interfering with convertibility of the support for use with the F coupler.

It is, therefore, the primary object of the present invention to provide an improved coupler support selectively adaptable for use as either a rigid or a resilient support for the shank of an associated coupler, depending on whether the latter is designed for vertical swinging.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improvement in a coupler support of the sort having a striking casting provided with an upwardly opening pocket normally adapted to receive the carrier iron and supporting springs of a resilient coupler carrier and adapted through removably attachable means to hold the carrier iron against vertical movement and in a position rigidly to support the associated coupler at coupling heights.

An additional object of the invention is to provide an improvement in coupler supports of the sort described wherein the normally resiliently-supported carrier iron is rigidly supported by detachable means and locked in position by retaining clips which also serve to limit the upward movement of the carrier iron when the latter is resiliently supported.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improvement in coupler supports of the sort described wherein the detaclhable means by which the normally resilientlysupported carrier iron is adapted for rigid support of a non-vertically swinging coupler, are supported on abutments integral with the striking casting, thus relieving the connection between the detachable means and the striking casting of stress.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter in the detailed description, be particularly pointed out in the appended claims and be illusstrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a front elevation view of a preferred embodiment of the coupler support of the present invention with portions broken away and shown in vertical section to more clearly illustrate certain of the details of construction, the support in the form shown being adapted for use as a rigid support.

Figure 2 is a vertical section view taken along the lines 22 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a plan view of the coupler support of Figure 1 with portions broken away and shown in horizontal section to more clearly illustrate certain of the details of construction.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary front elevational view, sectioned as in Figure 1, showing the support adapted for use as a resilient support, and

Figure 5 is a fragmentary side elevational view of the coupler support of Figure 4.

Referring now in detail to the drawings in which like reference characters designate like parts, the improved coupler support of the present invention is in the form of a combined striking casting and coupler carrier designated generally as 1, the striking casting 2 of which is designed to be fixed, as by bolting or riveting, to either end of the center sills (not shown) or corresponding part of the mnderframe of a railway vehicle.

With certain modifications hereinafter to be described, the striking casting of the illustrated embodiment is similar to that now standardized for use with the Alternate Standard A.A.R. Type F Coupler, being comprised of vertically directed side walls 3 and a connecting, horizontally directed top wall 4, defining therebetween a coupler opening 5. Below the coupler opening 5 and adjacent their forward extremities, the side walls 3 are connected by a pair of longitudinally spaced, upstanding or vertically directed cross ties or webs 6, the latter being joined at their bottom ends by a horizontally directed web 7 and forming with the bottom web and the included po-rtions of the side walls an upwardly opening pocket 8. Adapted to be received or fit in the pocket 8 is a carrier iron or casting 9 having a top wall or web 10 which normally is horizontally directed and from which depend longitudinally spaced front and rear walls 11 joined at either end by transversely spaced end walls 12 also depending from the top wall 10, these several walls together defining a downwardly opening recess or pocket 13.

In accordance with the usual construction, the top Wall 10 of the carrier iron overhangs its several vertical walls and there are outstanding from the lower extremities of the end walls 12 a pair of horizontally directed flanges or feet 14 which with the overhanging ends of the top wall 10 and included portions of the end walls 12, define a pair of recesses 15, each confronting one of the side walls 3 of the striking casting. Normally extending into each of these recesses 15 and with the associated of the bottom flanges 14 serving to limit the upward movement of the carrier iron 9 relative to the striking casting, is a retaining clip or plate 16 which projects through a slot 17 in the adjoining of the side walls 3 and registering with the recess and is separable from or removably attached or secured to an overlying lip or flange 18 integral with and outstanding from a side of the striking casting by suitable means, such as the disclosed rivet 19.

In the conventional combined striking casting and coupler cairier for the Type F coupler, the carrier iron 9 would always be resiliently mounted on coil or like springs 20 contained in the pockets 8 and 13 and acting against the top wall 10 of the carrier iron to urge that member upwardly, the limit of upward movement, as mentioned, being determined by engagement of the pair of retaining clips 16 with the bottom outstanding flanges 14 on the carrier iron. The instant coupler support functions in exactly that manner when serving to resiliently support a Type F or other vertically swinging coupler, the assembly of parts for this purpose being shown in Figures 4 and 5. However, the coupler support is also enabled to serve as a rigid support for a coupler which 3 is not designed to move downwardly or swing vertically, such as the A.A.R. Standard Type E.

In adapting the coupler support of the present invention to serve as a rigid support and yet be readily convertible to a resilient support, there are provided a pair of rigid supporting members or filler blocks 21, each separable from or removably attached or secured, as by a rivet 22, to the inner face 23 of one of the side walls 3, the carrier iron 9 resting on and being supported by the pair of supporting blocks through its outturned feet 14- and the blocks being so positioned vertically of the side walls as to position the top wall of the carrier iron at proper height for maintaining the E or like associated coupler of the non-downward moving type at coupling height. To relieve the rivets 22 of the stress to which they would otherwise be subjected by the vertical load imposed by the coupler, the blocks 21 in turn are supported or rest on abutments, shoulders or shelves 24 integral with and instanding from the inner faces 23 of the side Walls 3 within the pocket 8. In the conventional striking casting for the F coupler, these portions of the side walls are inclined inwardly in a downward direction and are interrupted centrally by openings 25. This construction is duplicated in the preferred embodiment, necessitating the provision for each of the blocks 21 of a pair of the abutments 24, each abutment being disposed at one side of the associated opening 25 and supporting one side of the block. With the confronting faces of the several supporting and supported members planar and horizontally disposed and the blocks 21 of sufficient thickness to inhibit bending between the abutments 24, the vertical load of the associated coupler is distributed over extended areas and downward movement of the carrier iron 9 relative to the striking casting is effectively prevented.

For locking or holding the carrier iron against upward movement relative to the striking casting, use is made of the same retaining clips 16 as are employed to limit upward movement when the carrier iron is resiliently mounted. Due to the greater height required of the carrier iron for an E coupler than for an F coupler, the ends of the retaining clips 16 which project into the recesses in the carrier iron have insets 26 in their normally upwardly facing horizontal faces, the retaining clips with these insets thus accommodating the difference in the required height merely by inversion of the clips and reversal of the faces confronting the outstanding feet 14 of the carrier iron 9.

Locked against vertical movementv relative to the striking casting by the blocks 21 and retaining clips 16 when applied to an E or a like coupler, the carrier iron 9, as the coupler moves under longitudinal forces, can slide horizontally but only within the limited confines of the pocket 8 of the striking casting. When the conversion to an F coupler is to be made, it is only necessary to remove the blocks 21, insert the several supporting springs and invert the retaining clips 16, to provide the usual resilient support, the upper faces 27 of the abutments 24 then being sufficiently spaced below the retaining clips to permit the carrier iron to move downwardly through its full range.

From the above detailed description, it will be apparent that there has been provided an improved coupler support which normally is adapted to serve as a resilient support for a vertically swinging coupler and with a minimum of readily removable parts is readily adapted to serve as a rigid support for a non-downward moving coupler. It should be understood that the described and disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the inventions and that all modifications are intended to be included which do not depart from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

Having now described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In a coupler support, the combination with the striking casting and a carrier iron normally resiliently supported by said striking casting, of means removably 4 attachable to said striking casting for locking said carrier iron against vertical movement relative thereto and enabling said carrier iron rigidly to support an associated coupler.

2. In a coupler support, the combination with the striking casting and a carrier iron normally resiliently supported by said striking casting, of rigid means for locking said carrier iron against vertical movement relative thereto and enabling said carrier iron rigidly to support an associated coupler.

3. In a coupler support, the combination with a striking casting and a carrier iron normally resiliently mounted on said striking casting, means on said striking casting for limiting the horizontal movement of said carrier iron relative thereto, slots in sides of said striking casting registering with recesses in ends of said carrier iron, and retaining means removably attached to said striking casting and projecting through said slots into said recesses for limiting upward movement of said carrier iron, of supporting means removably attached to said striking casting for supporting said carrier iron against downward movement, said supporting means cooperating with said retaining means for locking said carrier iron against vertical movement relative to said striking casting.

4. In a coupler support, the combination with a striking casting having an upwardly opening pocket, a carrier iron received in said pocket and normally resiliently supported for vertical movement relative to said striking casting, and means for limiting upward movement of said carrier iron relative to said striking casting, of rigid means removably attachable to said striking casting and cooperating with said limiting means for locking said carrier iron against vertical movement relative to said striking casting, and means integral with said striking casting for supporting said removable means thereon.

5. In a coupler support, the combination with a striking casting having an upwardly opening pocket, a carrier iron received in said pocket and normally resiliently supported for vertical movement relative to said striking casting, means for limiting upward movement of said carrier iron relative to said striking casting, of rigid means removably attached to said striking casting and underlying said carrier iron for supporting said carrier iron on said striking casting, said rigid means cooperating With said limiting means for locking said carrier iron against vertical movement relative to said striking casting, and shelf means integral with said striking casting and underlying and supporting said rigid means.

6. In a coupler support, the combination with a striking casting having an upwardly opening pocket, a carrier iron normally resiliently supported in said pocket,

slots in sides of said pocket registering with recesses in ends of said carrier iron and retaining plates removably secured to said striking casting outwardly of said pocket and projecting through said slots into said recesses, said retaining plates having normally downwardly facing'hori zontal faces engageable with confronting upwardly facing horizontal faces defining said recesses for limiting upward movement of said carrier iron, of insets in the normally upwardly facing faces of said retainer plates, said insets on reversal of said retaining clips increasing the upper limit of movement of said carrier iron, shoulders integral with opposite sides of said pocket andspaced sulficiently below said retainer plates to permit said carrier iron to move through its full range of downward movement, and filler blocks removably attached to sides of said pocket and resting on said shoulders, said filler blocks cooperating with said retaining plates for rigidly sup porting said carrier iron against vertical movement at a height determined by said retaining plates.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFIICATE 0F CORRECTION Patent-No. 2,884,143 p April 28, 1,959

Emil H, Blattner It is hereby certifiedthat error appears in the above numbered patent requiring correction and that the said Letters Patent should read as cor-- rected below,

In the grant, lines 2 and 3, for "assignor to The Symington-Gould Corporation, of Depew, New York, a corporation of Maryland," read assignor to Symington Wayne Corporation, a corporation of Maryland, --5 line 12, for "The Symington-Gould Corporation, its successors read Symin'gton Wayne Corporation, its successors in the heading to the printed specification, lines 3, '4 and 5, for "assignor to The Symingt'on- Gould Corporation, DepeW, N. Y.', a corporation of Maryland" read assig'nor to Symington Wayne Corporation, a corporation of Maryland Signed and sealed this 1st day of December 1959.

Attest:

K B 'H- AXLINE ROBERT c. WATSON Attesting; Officer y Conmissioner of Patents 

